Reddit reviews The Chosen: A Novel

Its really going to depend on the level of practice/religiosity of the families of the participants. More than anything as long as your daughter doesn't preach Jesus-y things and generally respects others, she should have a great summer. If she is going to be a counselor then the kids I assume will be quite young so they likely wont be having serious religious debates/discussions.

The key thing IMHO is that she understands Jews believe in G-d as being both infinite and one. There is no concept of G-d having a "son". G-d is indivisible, which from a Jewish perspective is incompatible with the idea of a man being divine. This means Jewish campers most likely have limited to no personal/family experience with Christmas, Easter, etc....unless they are from mixed-religion homes.

I would, as Judaism does, encourage her to ask as many questions as she wants to the Jewish folk at camp (staff, other counselors in training, campers). Like with other religions, most Jews have a wide range of level of practice and belief. A very famous saying (at least in the Jewish community) is "If you have two Jews, you have at least three opinions".

Also, this forum seems to be pretty knowledgable if she/you end up with more specific questions I would post them here.


This is the book I would recommend because rather than being an "about Judaism" book, it is a novel about two Jewish families/kids and their different experiences, which highlights my earlier point.

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1462558394&sr=1-6&keywords=Chosen

https://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Novel-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447